Charity lessons: how to ask for donations and not look miserable?
Advice from psychologist Olga Sorina.
When we ask for money, we ask for help from a person. Not in the target audience, but in the person. In this article, I wanted to fantasize about my face: how I would like to be asked for money. How to build a dialogue so that the applicant evokes respect, not pity and contempt.
Everything written below is my personal opinion and is not a fundraising guide. This text is about respectful and equal relations.
Speak clearly and on the case
First of all, I would like the conversation about money to be open and honest. It doesn’t matter if it’s a close friend or just an acquaintance. I would not like lyrical digressions: "When my mother was little ...". As clearly as possible and on the case. How much is needed, for what purpose.
Explain clearly why this is important to you
. Next I would like to understand why this particular project or purchase is important to him. Not the reason why it should be important to me, but why it is valuable to you. After all, you have taken a serious step and are asking for financial support.
Attempts to explain to people why they should care about one thing or another usually end badly. "If you help the animals in the shelter, you will be able to look at the animals on the street without guilt" - there is a possibility that I am already looking at them innocently. Explain why you are doing this and why you think it is so important. Imposing values evokes feelings of guilt or shame: "Maybe something is wrong with me because I don’t think it’s important?"
Tell me why it is important for you, and I will decide for myself whether it is so important for me that I will give my money to the project. I want to have a choice: to give money or not. The criterion for selection will not be the importance of the project in the fight against world evil, but whether I will see the value in it for myself.
Talk about opportunities, not risks or losses
"It will be great if you can help me" - sounds much better than "Without your help everything will be terribly bad, you’re the last hope." I am sure that regardless of the degree of need, how a person experiences this need is within his control. If I’m asked to help with money because someone else has stopped helping, it’s a blatantly weak argument for me. The case is important to me and the value of this case for you. And it does not matter who and to what extent supported you to me.
Do not complicate our relationship with other people. When someone else comes along, I inevitably start comparing myself to them. The comparison will most likely not be for the better, because I will not be able to support the same amount. In addition to this baggage, I have a strong feeling that if I start to support, I can not complete it, especially if it is a large amount, because for you it will be a crisis. If you lose a donor and find funds for a project that is at risk, do not talk about the damage he suffered, but about what you want to achieve in the current environment.
Let’s give feedback
It would be good if a person not just took my money and disappeared, but after buying or investing told me how things are. Even if I don’t invest much, I become an accomplice. If it wasn’t important to me, I wouldn’t give money. It would also be great to announce how we will keep in touch in the first conversation: "I’ll call you when I’m done, or I’ll write and tell you how it went." In this way, I enter into a partnership with the person to whom I gave the money. It will be incomprehensible and annoying to me if a person decides not to tell me anything later. Investing is the beginning of a relationship. And together we can control how they will develop further.
Talking about money is usually quite a complicated matter. Not that with a stranger, but even with loved ones. To make this conversation easier, it is important to be open and understandable to others. Give feedback and keep your responsibility to yourself. You are responsible for your project, and I am responsible for the choice - to give money or not. Nothing more. If you come with such a message, then, most likely, we will have a calm and trusting relationship.
Good luck in finding funds! There will be a series of articles on this topic.
Read also: Ufond Blog. Publicity or privacy of charity?
SUPPORT PROJECTS AND SUBSIDIARIES OF THE FUND COLLECTED UAH 105,609
When we ask for money, we ask for help from a person. Not in the target audience, but in the person. In this article, I wanted to fantasize about my face: how I would like to be asked for money. How to build a dialogue so that the applicant evokes respect, not pity and contempt.
Everything written below is my personal opinion and is not a fundraising guide. This text is about respectful and equal relations.
Speak clearly and on the case
First of all, I would like the conversation about money to be open and honest. It doesn’t matter if it’s a close friend or just an acquaintance. I would not like lyrical digressions: "When my mother was little ...". As clearly as possible and on the case. How much is needed, for what purpose.
Explain clearly why this is important to you
. Next I would like to understand why this particular project or purchase is important to him. Not the reason why it should be important to me, but why it is valuable to you. After all, you have taken a serious step and are asking for financial support.
Attempts to explain to people why they should care about one thing or another usually end badly. "If you help the animals in the shelter, you will be able to look at the animals on the street without guilt" - there is a possibility that I am already looking at them innocently. Explain why you are doing this and why you think it is so important. Imposing values evokes feelings of guilt or shame: "Maybe something is wrong with me because I don’t think it’s important?"
Tell me why it is important for you, and I will decide for myself whether it is so important for me that I will give my money to the project. I want to have a choice: to give money or not. The criterion for selection will not be the importance of the project in the fight against world evil, but whether I will see the value in it for myself.
Talk about opportunities, not risks or losses "It will be great if you can help me" - sounds much better than "Without your help everything will be terribly bad, you’re the last hope." I am sure that regardless of the degree of need, how a person experiences this need is within his control. If I’m asked to help with money because someone else has stopped helping, it’s a blatantly weak argument for me. The case is important to me and the value of this case for you. And it does not matter who and to what extent supported you to me.
Do not complicate our relationship with other people. When someone else comes along, I inevitably start comparing myself to them. The comparison will most likely not be for the better, because I will not be able to support the same amount. In addition to this baggage, I have a strong feeling that if I start to support, I can not complete it, especially if it is a large amount, because for you it will be a crisis. If you lose a donor and find funds for a project that is at risk, do not talk about the damage he suffered, but about what you want to achieve in the current environment.
Let’s give feedback
It would be good if a person not just took my money and disappeared, but after buying or investing told me how things are. Even if I don’t invest much, I become an accomplice. If it wasn’t important to me, I wouldn’t give money. It would also be great to announce how we will keep in touch in the first conversation: "I’ll call you when I’m done, or I’ll write and tell you how it went." In this way, I enter into a partnership with the person to whom I gave the money. It will be incomprehensible and annoying to me if a person decides not to tell me anything later. Investing is the beginning of a relationship. And together we can control how they will develop further.
Talking about money is usually quite a complicated matter. Not that with a stranger, but even with loved ones. To make this conversation easier, it is important to be open and understandable to others. Give feedback and keep your responsibility to yourself. You are responsible for your project, and I am responsible for the choice - to give money or not. Nothing more. If you come with such a message, then, most likely, we will have a calm and trusting relationship.
Good luck in finding funds! There will be a series of articles on this topic.
Read also: Ufond Blog. Publicity or privacy of charity?
SUPPORT PROJECTS AND SUBSIDIARIES OF THE FUND COLLECTED UAH 105,609